Add three more hotels to the growing list in Colombia, the South American nation now hot for business and leisure travel.

The InterContinental Hotels Group said it signed a deal for three new-build Holiday Inn Express hotels to open in the Bogota, Cartagena and Baranquilla in 2014.

Colombia’s Grupo Contempo will own and manage the properties under license with the InterContinental Hotel Group. Contempo already operates a Holiday Inn Express in Bogota — in the capital city’s fashionable “Parque de la 93” neighborhood.

Colombia is a top expansion market for InterContinental Hotels Group, which already has 1,910 rooms in varied brands in the country, said Joel Eisemann, the group’s chief development officer for the Americas based in South Florida. The market is hot because of Colombia’s growing economy, expanding middle class and rising international business, stoked in part by the US-Colombia free trade accord.

For more information on Holiday Inn Express hotels, call 1-800-HOLIDAY or visit hiexpress.com/.

Tapping into growing links with Colombia, JetBlue Airways plans to begin serice daily service from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Bogota’s El Dorado Airport on May 7. It already flies from Orlando to Bogota.

The new flight will operate non-stop four times a week between the cities, airport officials said in a release today.

The Airbus A320 aircraft was greeted with a water cannon salute – a typical welcome given to new carriers and special launch flights.

LAN Colombia A320, Miami-Dade Aviation Department/COURTESY

LAN Colombia is the newest addition to the LAN group of airlines that serve the Miami airport. Others include LAN Chile, LAN Ecuador and LAN Peru.

The airline – formerly Aires - began operations as LAN Colombia in Dec. 5, 2011. It’s the second largest airline in Colombia with 23 percent of market share, according to company statement Wednesday about the new service.

LAN Colombia was formed from the assets of Aires

MIA is the only U.S. airport with service by all five carriers within the LAN group, officials said Thursday.